Arizona weekly citizen., 1887-10-15
DANIEL eooNE's BLocKHouss.
How the Noted Pioneer of R.n,n,tx pr~ tected His Fa,,ft a.. ,,, -.

HOW tue Noted Pioneer of Keutucky Pre-
 teeted His FamiIy-an Indian Plan.
 Boone began building his blockhouse here on the lst day Of April. I175. The old piopesr chose wisely his location, and. with am ey, only To Its utility, chose also one of the love Hest spots in the state I don't suppose h. haa much time 10 go, like Dr. Syntax. iu search Of the picturesque, but it bappened in this instance that be found it without seek ing You can plainly see to this day the marks of the old blockhouse on the eyround- and little digging in the soft earth with . cane will bring up ashes and bits of old not tery from the spots where the old freplsces were. So there k no ohscurity about the matter. You may stand, if you wish. on the verItable Nebo from which old Boone viewed his promised land, and you may be sure your foot IS placed on the very soil troiden by the brave men and braver women who founded this famous commonwealth more than hun dred years ago.
 or course the chief things considered by those who built blockhouses were the conyen- fences of water, fuel and provisions, and also an unobstructed view on all sides. Standing here on the site of the fort, you can see at a glance how all :heSe advantages are combined iu this location. You stand perhaps hun drei yards from the wave Of tho Kentucky river, and perhaps forty feet above the waters edge, for the bank slopes up from the swift flowing stream Co the very walls of the fort To tho east and south the land is level. with not gully or a bank m it large enough to conceal a man fcr half a mile in both directions. In this fertile river bottom Boone had his cornfeld and raised his bread at the very door of his castle On the west the ground slopes slowly down Co the unfaiIing >.ring whence the garrison usually got their supply oi water < well sunk insid. the fort Co the level of this spring, say twenty feet il depth, would, and I believe did, fur nish a boUntiful quantity of water when hesiegers rendered access 10 the spring impossible. All around are high hllS Ike the rim of a deep plate, but none of them near enough to uer- mit thc guns used in former days to send A bullet into the fort. No foe cau approach except to come over the rising ground where hr can be easily seen frLm the upper windows ci the blo,khouse. Just across the river rises the near,>t -knob,r about i0J feet above the water, and perhaps ns many yards from the fort m a straight line. | man on top of i, would be outlined against the sky like a siI- houetfe, for the sun rises over it in the morr- ing and sets against it in the evening
 Altogether this location is just such as you would expect of a man of Boone's great good sen,e to select. IL give him every advantage and puts his nssailcuts al the mercy Of tho garrison. lt k related that once the Iniiars attempted to undermine the fort by digging tunnel from the steep oiise; of the river bank: but the dirt which they were compelled to throw into the river di,r0lored the water and SD betrayed their designs. No trick nor de- vice could be successfully used against tbe people in the fort, for the sharp eyed pioneers had the vantage grouud.-Boonesboro JKyJ Cor Chicago Times.